How about the American commentarist asking "why is the house upside down?" ,to which Pozner proceeded to explain Chagall's ways of painting..? Was he playing dumb or just plainly dumber...? "Oh...I knew that!"...(response post Pozner's elaborated explanation...geez...an even dumber late night comedy cliche...)

I'd say in this context that's not a dumb question - we're talking about an audience of millions, and I'll bet most of them didn't know why the house was upside down, either. And these are sports commentators, so I'd cut them some slack. That's what Pozner was there for - supposedly.

There seems to be a fundamental disconnect between a performance that works for a stadium-sized venue, with seating on all sides of the space and all the acoustical challenges that you get in an arena, and a performance that is designed for a camera or a proscenium theater. The challenge for the team who is designing and choreographing an event like this is that they have to consider both audiences -- the one in the stadium and the one in front of the television.

I think of the dazzling show created by Zhang Yimou for the Beijing Olympics,a feast of grand-scale movement that worked on every level.

Russian TV announced that the leading role of the student Pavlova was danced by the Mariinsky's recent graduate, Ksenia Zhiganshina. They also announced Yuri Smekalov as Diaghilev and as the choreographer of the piece.

The camera work on Russian TV was fantastic, by the way. Perfect angles and blend of close-ups and distance shots. Of course, they 'know' ballet.

A friend in the US tells me that NBC did not show the full ceremony, e.g., the big colorful Circus segment that closed the cultural portion (after Literature).

There seems to be a fundamental disconnect between a performance that works for a stadium-sized venue, with seating on all sides of the space and all the acoustical challenges that you get in an arena, and a performance that is designed for a camera or a proscenium theater. The challenge for the team who is designing and choreographing an event like this is that they have to consider both audiences -- the one in the stadium and the one in front of the television.

I think of the dazzling show created by Zhang Yimou for the Beijing Olympics,a feast of grand-scale movement that worked on every level.

Thank you for that list, meunier fan.

I was thinking about that as well -- a great example of what you can do with a truly large venue and a significant number of performers. I've often wondered what someone like Alwin Nikolais would have done with this kind of project.